deuce

name

1. Alternative letter-case form of deuce (“the Devil”).

   ““I should not allow any one to inconvenience me, if I could hinder it—walk in!” The “walk in,” was uttered with closed teeth and expressed the sentiment, “Go to the Deuce!””

   ““How in the Deuce’s name can they set up correctly from copy like that?” demanded he, in a fury.”

noun

Etymology: Compare Late Latin dusius (“phantom, specter”); Scottish Gaelic taibhs, taibhse (“apparition, ghost”); or from Old French deus (“God”), from Latin deus (compare deity).

1. The Devil, used in exclamations of confusion or anger.

   “Love is a bodily infirmity […] which breaks out the deuce knows how or why”

   “To sit, staring at those fixed glazed eyes, in silence for a moment, would play, Scrooge felt, the very deuce with him.”

2. Synonym of devil (“something awkward or difficult”).

   “We had a deuce of a time getting here.”